Posted by Joshua on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

Eric Schwartz (center), US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, talks to schoolgirls during his visit at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) girls' school at a Palestinian refugee camp in Zarqa near Amman, on Monday. Ali Jarekji/Reuters

I am off to Middle East Studies Association meeting in Boston for 5 days. I hope Alex and Ehsani will entertain you all.

Nicholas Noe believes Hizbullah is looking for a fight with Israel, which will come soonish. He writes: “The overwhelming sentiment within the party [Hizbullah] seems to be that a confrontation is not only inevitable, but that when it comes it will finally lead to the total collapse of Israel. This means, above all else, that the relative quiet of the past few years has not brought restored Israeli deterrence, but instead the deferment of a conflict that Hizballah feels vastly more secure in waging.”

It is hard to believe Hizbullah is really as confident as they make out. Certainly, “the resistance,” and that includes Hamas and Syria, must do something. The ball is in their court. Israel has won, at least it would seem that way for the time being. What do I mean by won? The Gaza solution. Israel has defied Obama, who claims that only the two-state solution is viable. It has presented an alternative solution, the Gaza solution. By bombing Hizbullah hard and bombing Hamas hard Israel has mapped out a policy. It seems to be working. No Western power complained when Israel smashed Gaza, nor have they complained since. No Hizbullah attack in over 3 years and quite on the Gaza front as the population languishes in its tents – that is success of the starkest kind. If the “resistance” does not respond within the year, there will be precious few remaining Israelis – or Westerner politicians for that matter – who will argue that concessions need to be made for peace. Hizbullah may talk a confident game, but the Israelis have promised that Lebanon will be Gaza’ed if Hizbullah strikes. I believe them.

Relations between Iraq and Syria have worsened sharply in recent weeks. Iraqi officials led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, blame Damascus for a recent series of huge bomb explosions in Baghdad, accusing it of harbouring hostile elements and …

“Al Qaeda in Iraq has transformed significantly in the last two years. What once was dominated by foreign individuals has now become more and more dominated by Iraqi citizens,” Odierno told reporters at the U.S. military’s main base in Baghdad.

“There’s still a small foreign element to al Qaeda, there are some who used to be Sunni rejectionists or ex-Baathists who are involved in this because of course they don’t want the government to succeed.”

Overall violence in Iraq has fallen sharply in the past 18 months and November so far has experienced one of the lowest civilian casualty levels since the 2003 U.S. invasion.

The twin suicide bombings in Baghdad on Oct. 25 devastated the Justice Ministry and the Baghdad governorate headquarters, while two similar suicide bombings on Aug. 19 killed almost 100 people at the foreign and finance ministries.

“We believe that there will be attempts to conduct more attacks between now and the elections because they want to destabilise those,” Odierno said.

The election is expected to occur between Jan. 18-23 but the date has been cast into doubt after Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi vetoed a law needed for the ballot to take place.

Odierno said multiple investigations had been launched into the Oct. 25 bombings, involving U.S. and Iraqi investigators.

“My experience is there probably was some movement of fighters or explosives coming from Syria,” he said when asked if the investigations had indicated any links to Syria.

Iraq refugees face dwindling UN funds, creating concerns of unrest
The UN has had trouble securing international funds to support as many as 2 million Iraq refugees throughout the Middle East who are barred from working in their host countries.
By Julien Barnes-Dacey | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
November 19, 2009

Damascus, Syria – More than six years after the invasion of Iraq, up to 2 million refugees remain stranded in neighboring countries and fears are rising that international support for them is fading, threatening more long-term regional unrest.

This week Eric Schwartz, the Assistant US Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, made his first regional tour since assuming his position in July and offered a grim assessment while in Damascus.

“This is a critical moment,” said Mr. Schwartz in an interview Wednesday. “I am extremely concerned at the inadequate response to the appeals of the UN to support humanitarian assistance to Iraqis.”

For 2010 the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Syria, where up to 1 million Iraqi refugees reside, requested an operational budget of $166 million. The agency only secured $55 million in international donations, down from $83 million in 2009. The story is similar elsewhere in the region.

Nearly all support for the refugees is channeled through UNHCR and observers worry that dwindling aid could provoke greater social and economic problems, extremism, and violence among the refugee community.

“The international community wants to believe that things are getting better in Iraq and so it’s going to pay less attention to refugees outside the country,” said one Western diplomat in Syria speaking on condition of anonymity.

Even as talk about the return of stability to Iraq reverberates internationally, more than 1,000 new refugees continue to register with the UNHCR region-wide every month, roughly matching the number of refugees who return to Iraq or are resettled in third countries. And with Iraqi national elections scheduled for January the potential for renewed instability could provoke a fresh surge…..

Kuzbari – one of Syria’s most accomplished businessmen, executive with Sham Holding,who has lived in Austria and is often referred to as the “Paper King” – he recently took over a government run paper factory in Deir ez-Zor – has an interesting interview in al-Iqtisad. He argues that businessmen should be at the heart of the government and in the economic ministries. He also explains that the Syrian government does not want to privatize, but adds, “I have my own feelings.” Read the interview in Arabic.

Minister of Finance Hussein says that he will raise government salaries as soon as the funds are available. Ehsani writes, “there is no way they can afford it…this is just lip service.. the deficit seems to be about 8% of gdp…subsidies are responsible for over 60% of that.”

This summit, which could give Sarkozy international and domestic momentum, is doomed to fail as long as the US administration does not pressure Netanyahu effectively to change his policy toward the Palestinians and move truly toward a peace negotiation track. The French president hopes to mobilize leaders around his plan, and he is aware that the US role is essential here. However, why would Obama give him this gift, while he is in need of the same success on this difficult track, which he has promised to solve? In fact, the French president believes that the White House erred in its policy of specifying for the Israelis a halt to settlements as a condition for returning to negotiations.

France believes that all issues should be put on the table and negotiated, namely halting settlements, Jerusalem, borders, etc. However, Sarkozy’s summit plan might be an unachievable dream because the Israeli prime minister is maneuvering and does not want any Palestinian state or any concessions, or any peace. Only the US president can exercise true pressure….

As for the Syrian-Israeli track, it was Sarkozy’s desire to receive, from his new Syrian friend, a certain role on a negotiation track that has been halted since the Gaza War, and the deterioration in Israeli-Turkish relations. The Israeli prime minister is maneuvering on this front as well, leaking information about an Israeli message via France to al-Assad, and that Netanyahu prefers Sarkozy as a mediator, to the Turks. The Syrian president, meanwhile, has openly affirmed that he is determined to retain the Turkish mediator and that the only request he has made to his friend Sarkozy is to pressure Israel to accept the Turkish mediator and resume negotiations.

The Syrian president’s visit to France was successful and important for the Syrian president, who received a “loftier” reception than usual in traditional working visits. He was able to conduct unprecedented level of public relations in the French capital. Al-Assad was not stingy when it came to media interviews and television appearances. Meetings were held for him with the leading French intellectuals and media figures, who saw the president’s attractiveness, modernity and skill in dealing with the media, in contrast to the Syrian embassy in France, which has been the subject of criticism. However, the visit did not give anything to Sarkozy, whether on the Syrian-Israeli track, or the alliance with Iran (al-Assad criticized European dealing with Iran on this nuclear issue), or the French-Iranian girl being held in Tehran, Clothilde Reiss. The Syrian president recommended to French officials that if they wanted to solve this issue, they should take the legal track and send lawyers and legal experts for her trial in Iran, or the political track, and solve it by paying a political price on the nuclear issue, and take Iranian proposals into consideration. Sarkozy’s warnings about an Israeli military strike against Iran and his fear that a fire could ignite in the region have not caused a change in the Syrian position. As for Lebanon, the Syrian president observed that disputes inside Lebanon were due to the Lebanese themselves, and that Syria had nothing to do with Lebanese disputes. He also said that Lebanon’s stability and prosperity were in Syria’s interest. The French agreed with him about an improvement in conditions in Lebanon and there was no additional French demand on this issue, which tooks up only a short period of the discussions….

Erdogan singled out Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to trust Ankara, unlike his predecessor Ehud Olmert, and also said he did not think Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would accept a French role in mediating with Israel.

Turkey, NATO’s only Muslim member, last year facilitated contacts that focused on Syrian demands for a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights — which Israel captured in 1967 and annexed — and Israel’s accusations that Damascus arms militants in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

They only aired about half of it and cut out some of the juicy parts where it gets heated (like when he defends quoting that diplomat on the Alawites and I attack him on that front). I tried to avoid at first the whole “state where people look over their shoulder”, but he pressed me on the issue and so I responded. It starts on the 43rd minute so just drag the button till you get there

A beaming Bashar al Assad visited the Elysee Palace in Paris last week to crown a series of foreign policy coups that are returning a once-shunned Syria to the international fold.

The French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who hopes to carve himself a role as a major regional player by facilitating Syria’s reintegration, is not the only one to have been bamboozled by the Syrian president (although so far Mr Sarkozy has done better at breaking taboos than obtaining tangible concessions from his new partner).

Mr Assad’s allies in Lebanon managed to strong-arm the prime minister-elect, Saad Hariri, into giving them the government share and portfolios they demanded, despite losing the election in June. Of course, they could not have done so without using weapons transported through Syria to intimidate and paralyse political activity.

“The death of the Independence Intifada of 2005 has been prematurely announced many times. However, today we have in front of us a genuine corpse, the end of the fleeting aspiration four years ago, at least in its more restricted form, of establishing a system emancipated from Syria. The Syrians, who left Lebanon through the window after Rafik Hariri’s assassination only to re-enter by the front door in recent months, have done so thanks to an understanding with Saudi Arabia. There are differences between what we have today and the Syrian-Saudi condominium after Taif, above all that the Syrian Army is no longer deployed in Lebanon. The latest contract is more equitable and is complicated by the fact that Iran has a powerful stake in the system through Hizbullah. However, it is familiar in leaving Lebanon with little discernible sovereignty, in large part courtesy of Lebanese divisions.

It’s no secret that the Saudis put considerable pressure on the prime minister-elect, Saad Hariri, to come to an arrangement over the new government with the opposition, one reason why he was forced to spend much time negotiating with Michel Aoun, to the irritation of his Christian partners. The Syrians, too, kept their end of the bargain, apparently with Turkish prodding, by bringing Aoun into line. After five months, the Hariri government was made in Lebanon only in the narrowest of ways.

This represents a fundamental shift from what Lebanon had between 2005 and 2009. From 2004 on, the country was placed under an effective, if highly imperfect, form of international trusteeship, ….began with Resolution 1559,…….
That international scaffolding has been substantially eroded in recent years, by action or omission. Resolution 1559 has been implemented only in the sense that Syrian soldiers have left Lebanon. However, Syrian meddling in Lebanese affairs has been unrelenting, and in late 2007 France significantly undermined the letter of the resolution, which it had co-sponsored, by actively bringing Damascus into the Lebanese presidential election. As for the disarmament of Hizbullah or pro-Syrian Palestinian groups, nothing has happened, and the Cabinet is preparing to find a consensual rhetorical formula in its statement to evade the question. The initial optimism surrounding the Hariri investigation has, similarly, worn off…..

By Scott Austin
Google Inc.’s announcement that it will buy AdMob Inc. for $750 million brought a media spotlight on Accel Partners, an investor in both AdMob and Playfish Inc., which said today it will sell to Electronic Arts Inc. for at least $275 million. Several blogs, including this one, hailed Accel Partners for its impressive and quick investment returns at a time when deals like these are hard to come by.

But AdMob’s founder and CEO, Omar Hamoui, really deserves the attention for building a company that in three years became the largest player of mobile Web ads and ultimately, a coveted jewel for the largest Internet company. [Hamoui was born in LA of Syrian parents.]

“Western powers are gearing up for talks on a fourth round of U.N. sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program but will not target Iran’s energy sector to ensure Russia’s and China’s support…… the scaling back of the West’s expectations for new U.N. steps against Iran for defying Security Council demands to stop enriching uranium shows that the Europeans and Americans have accepted that Moscow and Beijing, with their close trade ties to Tehran, will not let Iran’s economy be crippled.

Diplomats said the Western powers are eager to ratchet up the pressure on the Islamic Republic. But they also need to keep Moscow and Beijing on board to send a clear signal to Tehran that the world’s big powers are united against it…..

Just a few months ago U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other leaders warned Iran that it could face “crippling sanctions” if it continued to reject U.N. demands about its nuclear program….

A senior Western diplomat said the Western powers had other options independent of the United Nations. Those options would not be symbolic, he said.
He said that if European governments were to forbid Iranian banks from engaging in any transactions in euros, it would have “quite serious consequences” for Iran. Such a measure is both feasible and possible if the “political will” exists in Europe, he added.

Other diplomats said the West could prevent Iran from getting hold of the lucrative technology to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG). Tehran has been eager to acquire LNG technology for some time but has been unable to get top industry players to close deals with it….”

DAMASCUS — After years of pursuing a free-trade pact with the European Union, Syria is now balking at signing a deal as local businesses express worry about competition from European goods.

The European bloc is already Syria’s biggest trade partner. Such an agreement would reduce tariffs and spur the inflow of sought-after European goods. It would also be another symbolic sign of Syria’s recent diplomatic rehabilitation.

Syrian President Bashar Assad, touring a natural gas plant Wednesday, has pushed through economic liberalization.
The EU-Syria trade deal was first raised in 2004. A deal stalled in recent years after a political falling-out between Syria and European capitals. Amid accusations by Washington of Syrian complicity in allowing insurgents into Iraq, and allegations that Damascus may have had a hand in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, momentum stalled.

But the prospects for a deal picked up again earlier this year, when the EU in October invited Syria to sign a so-called Association Agreement with the bloc. The agreement promises closer political and economic cooperation.

Instead of embracing the invitation, however, Syria balked, perplexing European diplomats who had thought Damascus was still eager for a deal. Syrian officials here now say they need more time to study the ramifications on their economy, which is already undergoing significant reforms.

Recent trade liberation with other countries has been welcomed by consumers here. But it has hurt local industry. Some manufacturers have complained they can’t compete with better-quality goods that are now flowing in from other Arab countries, China and Turkey.

“We are taking our time to see the impact on our agriculture, our industry, and when we have finished the study we will inform the Europeans,” Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Dardari said in a recent interview.

Syrian businessmen are lobbying hard against the partnership, saying that new competition with European goods could have devastating effects on local industry. At the Badr Chocolates factory, located in the southern suburbs of Damascus, the challenges facing businesses here are clear.

Aging machines sputter, cranking out chocolates that would have a hard time competing with European alternatives. European products are already easy to come by here. They are made expensive, however, by import duties that the EU deal would remove.

“It’s as if I have a 1945 model car, and you’re asking me to compete with a 2010 model,” said Adnan Dakhakhni, Badr’s owner and a Syrian member of parliament. He warns he would have to lay off as many as half of his 60 employees if the EU deal goes through.

Syrian industrialists are already reeling as a result of the country’s 2007 free-trade agreement with Turkey. Scores of firms have been forced shut, fanning a public backlash against economic liberalization enacted by the authoritarian regime of President Bashar Assad.

Mr. Dardari, the deputy prime minister, says the government is still committed to its economic reform.

“Definitely many industrialists in Syria should be concerned,” he said. “But they are also aware of our policy, which is no more protection. Competition is healthy, and it’s good ultimately for the economy.”

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 (UPI) — “It will be just like Syria,” said the strategic scholar just back from Israel and speculating about the much-debated question of whether Israel will eventually bomb Iran’s nuclear installations.

It was a private conversation, and the erudite Middle Eastern expert was referring to Israel’s Sept. 6, 2007, bombing of a suspected nuclear site in Syria that had been secretly erected in a remote part of the country with the help of North Korean experts. The Israeli air force “can drop their guided missiles down a smokestack, and their submarine-launched cruise missiles can single out any building, and the Iranians, like the Syrians, will keep quiet about it.”

And why would Iran’s leaders keep quiet instead of issuing a general call to arms to all Muslims? Because, he reasoned, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has bragged publicly that Iran’s anti-aircraft defenses are “impenetrable.” Unmentioned is the distinct possibility that Ahmadinejad and some ayatollahs would welcome Israeli bombs as a way of uniting both Shiite and Sunni wings of the global ummah against Israel and the United States.

For an armchair strategist to be that far removed from reality is a little frightening. Syria’s nuclear site was located in a deserted part of the country near the Turkish border. Iran’s targets are deliberately implanted among heavily populated areas. A single bomb, however accurate, would translate into pictures and TV footage of dead women and children — and worldwide condemnation.

The U.S. brass is unanimously opposed to any Israeli and/or U.S. attack against any of Iran’s 27 known nuclear installations. Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen and the four service chiefs can see the Strait of Hormuz — through which 25 percent of the world’s oil transits — mined and supertankers sunk, and vital oil installations up and down the Persian Gulf swept up in the maelstrom.

While Israel threatened Iran of new ‘sanctions’ over the nuclear entanglement, a word reused by the media extensively , the Obama administration has never used that word. They only talk about ‘consequences’ a subtle distinction probably meant to keep a face saving exit when the Russian and Chinese will reject any attempt to turn these ‘consequences’ into ‘sanctions’.

I believe that Israel is itching for a fight to re establish its deterrence. In some ways it has succeeded in keeping the Lebanese border quiet. But it has now to think twice before it goes on bombing and invading Lebanon. So deterrence for deterrence I would call it a stalemate, A stalemate is not acceptable to Israel for it needs to demonstrate to itself and to the West that it is a reliable fixed aircraft carrier and base to control and discipline the region. Syria on the foreign affairs front has won in Lebanon for it has shown that the red line of neutralizing Lebanon or making it a staging area against Syrian interests is respected. It also has acquired significant ability to be flexible as it counterbalanced the Iranian influence with that of Turkey and perhaps France.

On the domestic agenda, the country is a mess and a disaster as corruption is endemic, nepostism rampant, and state economy moribund. Any effort to join the world economy means less control and this is a problem for the regime.

Again, the real winners are the two important nation states namely IRAN and Turkey. Turkey has now an eastern and Islamic foreign policy component and a Western one. Iran is counterbalancing the Saudis in the Gulf who hate the heavy control that the Royal family has tried to impose on the Emirates and others. They have a five thousand year history of negotiating carpet deals and we are seeing this in front of our eyes with the nuclear issue.

The election of unknowns for the European leadership means the return of the nation state in Europe at the expense of the Union as a forum for global projection of power. The US will not be able to have a domestic agenda and war at the same time especially since the collapse of the financial system. It is estimated that the value of the derivatives being traded among the Wall Street fat cats is 450 TRILLION dollar. The head of the CFTC warned about this in 1998 and again in 2002 and Greenspan and Summers removed her from office. The credit card bubble and the state government budget deficits will break the bank.

China and India and the EU and Russia would like to have a soft landing and an ordered down sizing of the US for an Empire on the verge of collapse is very dangerous indeed. Obama has proven to be an establishment guy on the one hand and an indecisive amateur in foreign affairs on the other. His handling of Israel, Karzai, and the recent Asia trip all demonstrate fluff without substance.

Now my utter contempt is for the Egyptians who have become a soccer team rather than an nation or even a country.

Hey Mr. Israeli Israel (Prince)
Do you guys think of anything other than military solution and agression for every freaking issue you have?
Don’t Israel have people who still use their brains anymore?
Where are the normal smart and human Israelis? do they even exist today, or all of you turned into this monster humans who likes to destroy everything his hands touch!

You totally misunderstood me, but I can only blame myself for it. It was phrased badly.

I absolutely oppose war with Iran (Israeli-Iranian war, that is..).
First, I admire Iran and the Iranians. What they achieved in the last
30 years, despite sanctions, despite hate and despite tries to sabotage their progress, is remarkable.
Iran is the future of the middle east, and so it would be disastrous
to become their enemy.
I’m not at all afraid of the Iranian bomb. In fact, I tend to agree
with Ehsani who argues that the Iranian bomb will make peace more
likely.
I believe that the purpose of the Iranian bomb (from the Iranian
perspective), is to deter what is becoming Afghano-Pakistan taliban
state, rather than bombing Israel.
.

Tel Aviv Amir do you know that of China’s imported oil over 15 percent come from Iran. Also Turkey, Japan, South Korea etc are important customers and depending of Iranian energy resources.

USA is to broke to attack on a third Muslim country. An attack by Israel would most certainly lead to the destruction of US dollar when the the western economies would be in unseen serious difficulties.

Attacking Iran is easy Amir, but what follows that attack would be the real “test” for the Jewish Reich. It can be that “you”, not the Iranians, are under serious sanctions and other blockades after that attack.

Signs of the changing world Amir is that in 1989 the ten tallest buildings in the world were in USA. Now 20 years later only one of those is in USA. USA has the debts and strongest army (but how long can it afford that). China etc have the cash, industrial capacity and soon the rest of the technologies. Can Israel built a special relationship with China or can Arab nations with their oil and gas do it easier. I would bet on the Arabs.

The stadium is financed Germany and France. And built by an Israeli contractor. You Israelis are “clever”. “You” take all the benefit (=money) from the Palestinians’ few building projects. When the project is almost ready it is ordered to be demolished. And stupid we Europeans donate the money to the next “demolition / Area C projects”. This is really absurd.

Hi Simo,
In the last couple months I was working on a consultant job with a Finnish team.
They are cool and nice people to be around, they introduced me to the Finnish culture and some domestic issues with a brief history of Finland, we also went to a lecture of one of your famous architect Juhani Pallasmaa.
They also talked about your president background and how she came to power and how liberal she is.
I was glad to hear about Umayya Abu Hanna story and work from them and I actually watched couple beautiful movies with them, the one I liked was about a blind priest and a women who came out of prison to work for him, the images were great.
Before that, I knew absolutely nothing about Finland, except Simo from SC 🙂

Israel seems is in a deep panic about the Goldstone project. They just sent a diplomat to the Solomon Islands because this ‘friend’ has supported the Goldstone project vote at the general assembly. Now the Solomon Islands are important to Israel in their desperate need to keep their old friends on their side.
Le Monde ( in french)
De l’importance des îles Salomon pour Israël

Have Hizballah moderated their activity because Israel has deterred them? Or because they achieved the prisoner exchange for which they mounted the snatch operation?

Israel will have to think long and hard about attacking Lebanon again. It has said (less explicitly than before Gaza) that it intends to use the Dahiyeh Doctrine again, but after Goldstone, it will be very difficult for them to do so with impunity.

You see.. SimoHurtta, Israel’s neighbors, unlike Finland, aren’t Sweden
and Norway.
I wished Israel could have been situated in Scandinavia, with all the
liberals and Fjords surrounding us, but unfortunately, god chose the Middle Eastern HolyLand for us.
If we were in Scandinavia, your lovely suggestions could have been implemented quite easily…
.

People like Uri Savir, who obviously came as close to negotiating Peace with Syria as one can be, still harbor fear and suspicion. Even in his article, which clearly pushes the Netanuahu government to seize the moment and make peace with Syria, he still expresses these feelings. He wants demilitarization, checking stations, intelligence, defense agreements with the U.S. He wants Syria to physically do everything it can, to not be able to attack Israel by surprise (even though it hasn’t done that in over 36 years). He distrusts Syria, yet wants to make peace with her.

This is our reality Norman. And I imagine the truth is that most Syrians also distrust us Israelis. You’ll get the Golan back, but you’ll suspect that we’re still dreaming of controlling the entire region. Until we’ll end our Occupation of Palestine, you’ll suspect that we truly want to control another people. To rob them of their lands. To dismiss their basic rights as human beings.

The best we can hope to achieve, at this point in time, is just enough trust to sign a peace agreement. Just enough to give ourselves a chance. Out of the understanding that the longer we wait, the more we’ll hate, suspect, and distrust. The more we’ll hurt one another. Because we both see each other as the bad guy. We both demonize the other.

We can’t reach an objective consensus on the true intentions of each side. We can only take a chance on dissolving the 60 year-old emotional and physical barriers that have held our children’s future hostage for so long.

An excellent Q&A by Nesa Syria about the Personal Status Law (revision 2), I ask everybody to read it just to know what is going on in Syria today and to understand our frustration and strong refusal of such terrible law this government is planning to force it on us.

I feel ashame of the way this law reflect how we should treat our Syrian Women, Children and Non-Muslims, it’s disgrace on every honorable Syrian to accept or stay quite about such sham, just write about it, that’s all what we need to do, nothing more, nothing less, let the government know that we are saying:
NOT IN OUR NAMES and THAT IS NOT THE FUTURE FOR OUR CHILDREN, THEY DESERVE BETTER.

Thank you Off the Wall.
At present there is a meeting regarding world security in Halifax funded by the German Marshall Fund and if you go on line and check the attendees you will find some interesting people attending and more important lack of Indian, Chinese, Russian, and other players.

It is clear that the first wars of the 21 century has started with the invasion of Iraq the positioning of bases along major oil and gas routes, the control of sea lanes, and the Project of the New American Century is alive and well with the current administration.

On the other hand I would say that the follies of empire continue unabatted and I said before that empires are not slain but commit suicide.

Here is some interesting readings

Your reading for today if you want to review the items below.

The article by Spengler has some truth to it, but is followed by another one that indicates that the military industrial complex is well and thriving. The main question of the day is who is going to pay for all of this and what are we going to do with continued printing of the dollar to bail the faltering economy. There is no way that the country can afford a new health care system, bail out of Wall Street, and two wars while expanding the reaches of the empire. This is pure folly.

I have a hard time believing that Hezbollah is itching for a final fight against Israel. The 2006 war ended in a stalemate and even if Hezbollah succeeded in pushing the Israelis out it was neither a win nor a complete representation of all the power Israel could bring to bear on Lebanon. Truly believing that they’re in a position to defeat Israel sounds so opposed to their more politically pragmatic dialogues of late. I’m not very educated on this subject – is Hezbollah really itching for a fight? Nasrallah said the 2006 snatch was a mistake and for him to turn around three years later and invite more force sounds out of character.

This is our reality Norman. And I imagine the truth is that most Syrians also distrust us Israelis. You’ll get the Golan back, but you’ll suspect that we’re still dreaming of controlling the entire region. Until we’ll end our Occupation of Palestine, you’ll suspect that we truly want to control another people. To rob them of their lands. To dismiss their basic rights as human beings.

and that is why only comprehensive peace will do , where everybody is satisfied, not orgasmic , where everybody will have something to be happy about , Israel recognised in a safe and defined borders and the Palestinians who are compensated for their suffering over the last 60 years in a home they call their own ,

This is our reality Norman. And I imagine the truth is that most Syrians also distrust us Israelis. You’ll get the Golan back, but you’ll suspect that we’re still dreaming of controlling the entire region. Until we’ll end our Occupation of Palestine, you’ll suspect that we truly want to control another people. To rob them of their lands. To dismiss their basic rights as human beings.